Frequently Asked Questions

Select a FOA to view questions and answers for the specific funding opportunity.
Alternatively select "Non-FOA related items" to view system FAQ items.

Question 1: I have an older version of Word on my system so cannot read the .docx version of the FOA document. Can you send me a .doc version of that document?Answer 1:

The FOA document has been converted to .doc format and is now available for download on Exchange.

Question 2: I have received a solicitation notice from DOE on Plug and Play Photvoltaics. The short description indicates that at least 20% cost sharing is required for the grant proposal. For the universities, could this cost sharing be in the form of space, labor, equipment, material, etc.?Answer 2:

Question 3: Can individual homeowners apply to have a PlugandPlay system installed in their homes? Is the government looking for "test" homes?Answer 3:

No, DOE is not seeking individual test homes for plug and play systems. Please see Section I of the FOA for information on the type of research that will be funded under this FOA.

Question 4: Is it possible for a for-profit organization to make a profit on Funding Opportunity DE-FOA-0000653 ? What is the contract vehicle type?Answer 4:

As stated in Section II.A of the FOA, DOE anticipates awarding cooperative agreements under this announcement. Under cooperative agreements, the payment of fee or profit to recipients or subrecipients is unallowable. The only exceptions are the Small Business Innovation Research or Small Business Technology Transfer Research programs, which do not apply to this FOA. Please see 10 CFR 600.318 for details.

Question 5: Can you assist us in locating the full announcement for this FOA?Answer 5:

Question 6: Do you offer any assistance in the partnering of industry/university/utility in forming a team to apply for the Plug and Play FOA? I ask because [company name removed] is not in a position to apply alone, but could be very useful as a participant, allowing for Plug and Play PV as described in the FOA on a smaller, entry-level scale, and with storage.Answer 6:

Unfortunately, the Plug and Play Photovoltaics Funding Opportunity Announcement is a competitive announcement and private discussions with DOE regarding prospective applications, while the announcement is open, are prohibited. Applicants are responsible for forming their own partnerships and subrecipient relationships.

Question 7: I am attempting (this is my first time) to fill out the SF-24 (SF-424) application and I was wondering what box 4 is? It only states "Applicant identifier". It that my name or my company's name or some other identifier. Also, is there a location where on-line help is available for filing out these forms?Answer 7:

Question 9: We are applying for DE-FOA-0000653 Plug and Play Photovoltaics Grant. Can you please clarify the minimum grant we can request?Answer 9:

The minimum award size is $7.5M over five years or $1.5M per year.Please refer to Section II.C, “Maximum and Minimum Award Size” of the FOA for further information.

Question 10: Since we are submitting tomorrow, so close to the deadline, do we receive a confirming email that the LOI has been received?Answer 10:

Yes, you will receive an automatically generated email confirmation from Exchange once your Letter of Intent is successfully submitted.

Question 11: We are interested in sending out a proposal for this solicitation. Could you please let us know if there is a specific document that needs to be sent to express our intent? I could not find any detail on the website.Answer 11:

Letters of Intent should include the name of the applicant, the title of the project, the name of the Project Director/Principal Investigator(s), the amount of funds requested, and a one-page abstract (see Section IV.B of the FOA). To download the FOA, please visit https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/#bf5631a6-44d3-4d22-9034-9d0dc0bdf3d3and select the link that is listed under the “FOA Documents” section.

Question 12: How does one get a Letter of Support from a utility that has already written one? The likely hood of one utility getting 2 grants is slight, so if either one of us receives the grant, wouldn't that utility just go with the grant winner? Based on this thought, could one utility write a Letter of Support for more than one group?Answer 12:

The number of Letters of Support provided for projects are at the discretion of the utility.Please check with the utility for specific information on the process of receiving a Letter of Support.

Question 13: Is there any limit on the indirect costs on the budget?Answer 13:

Indirect costs are limited to the federally approved indirect rate established by the applicant’s cognizant agency. If a proposal is selected for negotiation and the recipient does not have a cognizant agency, DOE will work with the recipient to establish reasonable indirect costs for the award. For more information on indirect costs, please visit www.dcaa.mil, click on “Information for Contractors”, and review Chapter 6.

Question 14: (A) Can foreign company participate as an active team member in the proposal?
(B) How many hours a professor can spend in this project (one year, including regular semesters and summer)? Any limitation?
(C) How many hours can a consultant spend in this project per year? Any limitation? Can a consultant use 25% of his time (labor) as the cost-sharing?Answer 14:

(A) No, foreign entities may not apply as prime or sub-recipients on the Plug and Play Photovoltaics FOA. An amendment to the FOA has been posted to Exchange (www.eere-exchange.energy.gov) to clarify eligibility restrictions on foreign entities. Please review Section III.A, Eligibility Requirements of Amendment 001 for details.

(B) A professor’s hours are limited to 2080 per year (40 hours per week). All personnel costs must be necessary to perform the proposed work and meet all the criteria for allowability under the applicable Federal cost principles. Charges for work performed on sponsored agreements by faculty members during the academic year will be based on the individual faculty member's regular compensation for the continuous period which, under the policy of the institution concerned, constitutes the basis of his salary. Charges for work performed by faculty members on sponsored agreements during the summer months or other period not included in the base salary period will be determined for each faculty member at a rate not in excess of the base salary divided by the period to which the base salary relates. Please see 2 CFR 220 for details.

(C) An individual’s hours are limited to 2080 per year (40 hours per week). Personnel time is eligible for cost sharing, but all costs must be necessary to perform the proposed work and meet all the criteria for allowability under the applicable Federal cost principles. For more information on consultant costs, please refer to the applicable cost principles, listed in Section IV.G of the FOA.

Question 15: I am inquiring to see if their is still a chance to submit a letter of intent for the plug-and-play funding opportunity. I just recently came across this, therefore, I missed the deadline. Please let me know if I can proceed or not.Answer 15:

The deadline for the submission of a Letter of Intent has passed.However, failure to submit a Letter of Intent will not affect the submission and review of an Application.Please go to https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/ and refer to Section IV of the FOA for specific application and submission information.

Question 16: With respect to testing potential plug and play technology, would commercial buildings be acceptable, if used as scalable technology which could be easily scaled down for residential use?Answer 16:

The focus of the Plug & Play Photovoltaics FOA is residential technology, and application materials should reflect this focus.

Question 17: The SF-424 form on your website has an expiration date of 3/31/2012. Is this still usable for our application?Answer 17:

Question 18: Curious if anyone there is familiar with our plug-and-play technologies that we have developed, patented and deployed into the U.S. marketplace since 2007?Answer 18:

Unfortunately, the Plug and Play Photovoltaics Funding Opportunity Announcement is a competitive announcement and private discussions with DOE regarding prospective applications, while the announcement is open, are prohibited. If you would like to request funding for additional plug-and-play technology research, you may submit an application. All applications will be evaluated by independent reviewers according to the merit review criteria listed in Section V.A of the FOA.

Question 19: Can the applying small businesses' 20% cost sharing be in the form of its staff 'donating' 20% of their scheduled work time as a 'effort contribution' during the duration of the project? These same staff members have already donated much of their time in the original hardware development, trading their effort for shares in the company. The staff members would still be interested in continuing the one-day/week they donate if it will be acceptable as "cost sharing" by this DOE FOA.
By the numbers, the planned project budget would require only 4 days/work week of salaries covered by the DOE funds, and would cover the remaining 1 day/week of staff effort by exchanging company stock for that effort.
In this way the staff continue to invest in their new company, and can represent the contribution of actual effort from salaries without having to secure large sums of capital.Answer 19:

Yes, staff members may donate 20% of their time towards cost share. Bill employee time when the employees are compensated by stock at the hourly rate they are usually paid. For accounting purposes, consider the time they work and are compensated by stock as volunteer time under 10 CFR 600.313(b).

Question 20: I am submitting my abstract for the DOE plug and play program. Could you please let me know if this fits your program interest before I submit the full proposal?Answer 20:

Unfortunately, the Plug and Play Photovoltaics Funding Opportunity Announcement is a competitive announcement and private discussions with DOE regarding prospective applications, while the announcement is open, are prohibited. The decision whether to submit an application in response to this FOA lies solely with the applicant.

Question 21: Our state procurement requires that we issue an RFP for all third party participation for the Plug and Play grant, You are asking us to send budget and cost share amounts from any third party groups with commitment letters. We see no real way to do this and make it accurate. How should we proceed?Answer 21:

If you anticipate third party participation in the project, but have not determined the specific participant, you may provide a cost estimate for those activities, labeled as “TBD provider of [insert activity]”, as a line item in the Contractual section of the budget. Also include an explanation as to why the third party cannot be determined at the time of application (i.e., the State procurement requirements). If your proposal is selected for negotiation, the third party budget can be negotiated at that time, however, foreign entities are not allowed as participants, and all participants in the project must conform to the eligibility requirements set out in Section III.A of the FOA.

Please note that each applicant is required to identify a utility partner and code official to take an active role in the development of the Plug and Play concept and fully participate throughout the project. The utility partner and code officials must be determined prior to application, and may not be labeled as “TBD” on the budget. Applicants must have a letter from each participating utility and authority having jurisdiction (AHJ)/code official indicating that the entity is supportive of the applicant’s proposal and will engage in activities as appropriate to help the applicant achieve the proposed objectives.

The prime applicant is responsible for meeting the cost share requirement of this FOA. If third parties contribute cost share, the prime applicant is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the funds are provided.

Question 22: The PMC 123.1 Budget Justification only has 3 project periods, however this project will have 5. When I try to add the additional years it doesn’t carry the formulas over, and I’m afraid it will not carry the information over to the summary sheet either. Is there another form or should we manually enter/change the file?Answer 22:

Alternate versions of the SF-424A and PMC 123.1 have been uploaded to Exchange. These newly uploaded forms will accommodate five budget periods. Please visit www.eere-exchange.energy.gov and click on “View Required Application Documents”.

Question 23: The FOA states that recipients of funds must be incorporated in the US. Can foreign entities provide cost share (in-kind or otherwise)?Answer 23:

No, foreign entities may not participate as prime or subrecipients on the Plug and Play Photovoltaics FOA, therefore direct foreign cost share is prohibited. If a domestic applicant / subrecipient receives resources (cash or otherwise) from a foreign entity (such as a foreign parent company), the domestic applicant / subrecipient receiving the foreign resources may dedicate them to the project as cost share for the domestic applicant / subrecipient’s participation, but is responsible for securing the resources from the foreign entity outside the scope of the project.

An amendment to the FOA has been posted to Exchange (www.eere-exchange.energy.gov) to clarify eligibility restrictions for foreign entities. In addition, the amendment adds the requirement for applicants to clarify the extent of the prime recipient and any subrecipient’s current operations within the U.S., as well as how the project approach would benefit the U.S. solar energy industry. Please review Section III.A, Eligibility Requirements and Section IV.C.11 of Amendment 001 for details.

Question 24: I understand that a foreign entity cannot be an applicant or a subrecipient, but can a foreign entity participate in the research and/or demonstration project without receiving any funds? Further, can a subsidiary of a foreign entity participate as a subrecipient if it is incorporated in the U.S.?Answer 24: No, a foreign entity cannot participate in any award resulting from the Plug and Play Photovoltaics FOA. Only domestic entities are eligible as applicants or subrecipients. The term “domestic entity” is defined as a legal entity established pursuant to the United States Federal or State laws, therefore, a subsidiary of a foreign entity may participate as a subrecipient, provided that it is incorporated in the U.S. (see Section III.A of the FOA for details).

Question 25: I realize we may be cutting it close here but I have a friend who has been working on a plug & play photovoltaic system for a number of years already and it would be a shame if he didn't at least submit a package for consideration.
Could you please advise me on exactly what is required to submit a package, and also what the process is after the package is submitted.
Thank you very much for any advice you can offer.Answer 25:

Applicants must complete the required application forms found on the EERE Exchange website at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/ , as well as all other application requirements listed in Section IV.C of the FOA. Applications must be received by June 18, 2012, not later than 5:00 PM Eastern Time. Applicants are encouraged to transmit applications well before the deadline. APPLICATIONS RECEIVED AFTER THE DEADLINE WILL NOT BE REVIEWED OR CONSIDERED FOR AWARD.

Question 26: I have a question of the budget sheets and budget justification. If the grant is for a 5 year period how do we handle the form SF424A - on this sheet is section D for Year 1 only and section E for years 2-5? How do you handle the budget justification excel sheet that only list cost for the first three years.Answer 26: Alternate versions of the SF-424A and PMC 123.1 have been uploaded to Exchange. These newly uploaded forms will accommodate five budget periods. Please visit www.eere-exchange.energy.gov and click on “View Required Application Documents”.

Question 27: Can you please forward the RFP or let us know where we may find the information in order to bid this project. [Company name removed] is very interested in this project.Answer 27:

The application submission deadline for DE-FOA-0000653, Plug and Play Photovoltaics, is June 18, 2012 at 5:00 PM Eastern. Applications must be submitted under this announcement through EERE Exchange (https://eere-exchange.energy.gov). Applications received after the deadline will not be reviewed or considered for award.

Question 28: A. I am preparing a Plug ’n Play proposal and see that the FOA says to attach a PDF file for subcontracts but the EERE-Exchange site calls for an Excel file. Can you please clarify?
B. This proposal will also have about 10 subcontracts/partners and is a 5-year proposal. If we create a separate Excel file tab for each year of the subcontract, that will mean more than 60 tabs. Optionally, the single SF424A lists the amounts required for each subsequent year of the project, although it does not break the total amount down by category—would that be sufficient?
C. A third question involves the control number. There was no requirement for a concept paper for this program, yet the EERE-Exchange site discusses such a thing. There was no prior abstract. Will this matter?Answer 28:

Answer:

A.Only FFRDC contractors require a PDF document. Subrecipient / subawardee budget documents should be submitted in Excel, as stated in the FOA and on the EERE Exchange website.

B.Any subrecipient with total project costs over $100,000 must submit a separate SF-424A and PMC 123.1 forms. Details of subrecipient costs should not all be included in the same excel file. If you have 10 subrecipients with total project costs over $100,000, you will need to submit 11 SF-424A forms and 11 PMC 123.1 forms (one for the prime, and one for each subrecipient). The prime SF-424A and PMC 123.1 should capture the total subrecipient costs in the Contractual section of the budget. In the SF-424A, the Contractual line item will be total subrecipient costs, while in the PMC 123.1 there should be 10 line items in the Contractual tab (one line per subrecipient). For example:

SF-424A:

Object Class Categories

Grant Program, Function or Activity

Total (5)

Budget Period 1

Budget Period 2

Budget Period 3

Budget Period 4

Budget Period 5

f. Contractual

$75,000

$75,000

$75,000

$75,000

$75,000

$375,000

PMC 123.1:

Sub-RecipientName/Organization

Purpose/Tasks in SOPO

Budget Period 1Costs

Budget Period 2Costs

Budget Period 3Costs

Budget Period 4Costs

Budget Period 5Costs

Project Total

Subrecipient A

Tasks 1, 2, 4

$50,000

$50,000

$50,000

$50,000

$50,000

$250,000

Subrecipient B

Tasks 5, 7

$25,000

$25,000

$25,000

$25,000

$25,000

$125,000

Etc.

C.You will be assigned a control number once you click “Apply to this FOA” in Exchange. No concept paper is required.

Question 29: Is foregone indirect cost able to be used as part of the cost match?Answer 29:

Indirect costs are allowable as cost share as long as the recipient has a Federally approved Indirect Rate Agreement. If a proposal is selected for negotiation and the recipient does not have a cognizant agency , DOE will work with the recipient to establish reasonable indirect costs for the award. For more information on indirect costs, please visit www.dcaa.mil, click on “Information for Contractors”, and review Chapter 6.

Question 30: Under “3. Project Narrative File” on page 16, it is (effectively) stated that “20 pages” is all that gets reviewed. Further down in that section, under Statement of Project Objectives, it is (effectively) stated that the SOPO page count is not included in “the page limit”, by the latter of which we assume you mean “20 pages”. Do these two excerpts together mean that the reviewers will review the 20 pages of the narrative PLUS the SOPO, or will the reviewers not review the SOPO at all? Also, the SOPO format in Appendix D says the SOPO should not exceed 4 to 5 pages. Is that “should” to be interpreted as a “must”, or is it permissible to submit a 6 to 7 page SOPO?Answer 30:

The SOPO is not included in the page limit for the Project Narrative File. Both the Project Narrative and the Statement of Project Objectives (SOPO) will be reviewed as a part of the application packet. DOE requests that applicants adhere to the page limits assigned in the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA).

Question 31: Can a company be a secondary participant on two different proposals?Answer 31:

Yes, a company can be a secondary participant on multiple proposals, provided that its participation is relevant to each project’s objectives, and it meets the eligibility requirements set forth in Section III.A of the FOA.

Question 32: One of our utility partners has a site that they may offer as a testbed on which we can build the demonstration system. Can this be counted as cost share in-kind? It appears that the utility support letter content makes no mention of cost share. Please advise if the support letter should mention this.Answer 32:

All cost share provided to the project by a third party (i.e., a party other than the organization submitting the application) must be supported by a letter of commitment that includes the dollar value of the contribution. If the utility participating in your project is providing cost share, the letter of commitment can be combined with the letter of support.

Utility partner in-kind cost share must be clearly defined in relation to the performance of the proposed work and meet all the criteria for allowability under the applicable Federal cost principles. The fair rental charges for land donated by a third party may be counted as cost share, subject to the prior approval of the Contracting Officer during negotiations, and also subject to the conditions listed in 10 CFR 600.123, 10 CFR 600.224, and 10 CFR 600.313.

Question 33: Have Plug & Play recipients been selected yet? When can we expect to hear the decision on our application?Answer 33:

No, Plug & Play recipients have not yet been announced. You will receive an email from the Exchange website when the decision on your application has been posted.

Question 34: What’s the status of selections under the Plug and Play Photovoltaics FOA?Answer 34: